Just realized it’s been awhile since my last post. Sadly, my beloved dog Chester passed away this week at the old age of 14.5 (102 in dog years)…so that was another sad phone call to receive. My mom feels his absence most keenly because he was living with her in Michigan, though it’s hard for me too since he was such a faithful friend all these years (since I was 13).
More Beauty from the Ashes
So June is a tougher month now because of the anniversary of my dad’s death, Father’s Day, and now Chester’s death. I wrote a new song for guitar/vocals two days after Father’s Day called “Beauty from Ashes,” and it’s actually the first song I’ve written since my accident. So it’s borne out of that and my dad’s death:
“Beauty from Ashes”
Verse 1:
This life can have its pain, its trials, and its heartache
But You never said You’d keep us from all heartbreak
Yet what You promised is that nothing could ever separate us,
That we’ll look back and see how You beautifully re-made us
Chorus:
You bring beauty from ashes
You trade joy for mourning
You bring beauty from ashes
My King, My Love
Verse 2:
When tragedy, and grief, and trials enfold us
You are still in control and tenderly You hold us
You work all things together for the good of those who love You
And You’ll be glorified my King, proven faithful and true
Chorus:
You bring beauty from ashes
You trade joy for mourning
You bring beauty from ashes
My King, My Love
Bridge:
You are so good, You are so kind
You heal my heart, You blow my mind
You are so faithful in my life
Jesus
You are beautiful
So beautiful
You are beautiful
My King, My Love
Jesus, You are so faithful in my life
Jesus, You are so faithful in my life
About a week later (last Monday), I got to see God bring even more beauty from the ashes. One of the YFC volunteers in Gaborone asked if I’d come with her to the hospital in Gaborone to visit a family friend, a young pastor who’d survived a fatal car accident where 3 people died. His main injuries were related to his neck and jaw. Sound familiar? So I brought along my laptop and showed him the slideshow that depicts the testimony of how God has brought beauty from the ashes of my accident, triumph out of tragedy. I encouraged him that God can bring him through this valley back to the mountaintops, and that God is faithful and good in the midst of such tragedies. The other visitors encouraged me to lead a prayer for him, so I prayed for his healing—physical and emotional. Due to his neck brace and jaw it was difficult for him to speak, but he reached out his hand to shake mine afterward. The next day, when I stopped in to visit him, he looked much better and was able to talk a bit with me and thank me again.
Hospital Ministry in Gaborone
When the volunteer had asked if I’d go to the hospital with her, I was hoping that we could visit other patients afterward. It’s been on my heart to visit patients at that hospital, but I didn’t know the procedure. Before I had a chance to ask her, she asked me if we could visit other patients! She said that the Lord had really been calling her to visit patients there, and she was hoping that our visit that day could be the start of a regular hospital ministry. That, of course, resonated in my heart, as I’d been hoping the same exact thing! So after we visited her pastor friend, we visited and prayed for several other patients. In the process, we ran into the college student I’ve been mentoring! She too was there to visit and pray for patients! I found out the next day that she has been going to minister at the hospital almost every day since 2008! So it looks like we already have a core of committed hospital ministers, and we can invite other volunteers to join us!
Hospital Ministry in Mochudi
I typed the following up awhile back about our hospital ministry on Fridays in Mochudi, but left it out because the entry was already quite long, so I’ll include it now:
The day in May we shared the Gift of Time lesson at the school assembly [that God gives us all the gift of time and we have to choose how to fill our time], we were praying for and talking to a teen girl patient who wanted a nurse to assist her. We went to get one, but they said they were busy attending to a corpse. Someone in the next room had just died. It just struck me regarding the time teaching we gave earlier that day…that woman’s time was up. We only get so much time on earth. How are we using it? Meanwhile, while that girl could not be attended by a nurse I sang over her a lullaby, the lyrics of which are from the perspective of God singing to you. Any of my youth group kids from the US would recognize it as the song I’ve sung to them at camps and overnights just before bed. It’s “I am” by Jill Phillips. Here are the lyrics:
Oh gently lay your head
Upon My chest
And I will comfort you
Like a mother while you rest
The tide can change so fast,
But I will stay
The same through the past,
The same in future, same today
CHORUS:
I am constant; I am near
I am peace that shatters all your secret fears
I am holy; I am wise
I'm the only one who knows your heart's desires
Your heart's desires
Oh weary, tired and worn,
Let out your sighs
And drop that heavy load you hold
‘Cause Mine is light
I know you through and through;
There's no need to hide
I want to show you love
That is deep and high and wide
CHORUS(2x)
Oh gently lay your head
Upon My chest
And I will comfort you
Like a mother while you rest
The patient closed her eyes and rested as I sang. I think it calmed her down. I often sing that song over patients in the hospital and am so grateful for the chance to help them sense God’s love and care for them. Another particularly memorable moment at the hospital was when we went up to an old lady lying in her bed. She didn’t understand or speak English very much, so in my halting Setswana I tried to find out what was wrong and ask if we could pray for her. After we prayed, she reached for my hand, pulled it gently closer and bent her head down to kiss my hand. She communicated love and appreciation through that and her eyes/smile better than words could have done. She then signaled for Jennifer to come closer so she could do the same for her. By the time we left her bedside, she had kissed each of our hands three times.
Other News
There’s a lot going on with mentoring, clubs, etc., but here are some main things: This week I’m meeting again with the leadership of the Face the Nation program to determine how they might partner with us in the mentoring program I’m developing. Prayers for wisdom and God’s will in all this is much appreciated. We are running holiday programs the next couple weeks in Mochudi and a village next to Gaborone, so prayers for that are also welcome. A visiting team from Cape Town just left this morning, and a week from today, 20+ Canadians will arrive to minister with us, and all somehow fit into our staff house for two weeks! Two of the regular staff/volunteers, Corine and Franzi, just flew back to Europe after their times of service here (sad for us!!), so we only have 3 of us living in the house now…until the Canadians arrive!
Michelle Obama Visited Mochudi!
Oh, and in other random news, U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama made an unscheduled stop at the restaurant just 300 meters from our house in Mochudi last week! We didn’t know she was coming to Mochudi, but as I drove to Gaborone that morning and saw all the police and tanks along the highway from Gaborone to Mochudi, I wondered what was going on. I knew that Michelle Obama was in Gaborone, and so I assumed she was going to visit Mochudi?! So I called my housemates to let them know, and sure enough, she not only drove by, but stopped to get food right across the street from where they were standing to see her drive by, less than a quarter mile from our house! You can watch a Reuters news report on it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qr9Uu4w2Ag. She drove back through the next day on her way back to the airport.
Take care, and I appreciate your care and prayers.
Blessings,
Em
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